Relapse
by Zight
Summary: The past comes back to haunt Naruto, but in a way more real then any memory. What happens when Naruto awakes to find himself in his 13 year old body? Slight angsty Naruto at the beginning, changes later.
1. Chapter 1: Rain

Disclaimer: That smug little bastard Kishimoto that's scrapping ideas from the bottom of a bucket at this point owns Naruto, not me. Meh.

Author's Note: This story is very impulsive. Not only is it impulsive it was made with the idea of the November writing month in mind. I have three weeks of school left until I work on the ore and coal boats on the great lakes for the summer and I've been itching to actually write a story. Well, this is my challenge to myself. I'm giving myself the 3 weeks I have left, one of them being finals week, and ignoring the fact that I have two 500+ page books to read and get tested on so that I can write at least a 33,333 word story by midnight, may 5th, 2008. So it's more about length and actually writing then quality right now. Not that I think it'll suck…just saying the point. I'll most likely continue posting when I get off the boat with crap I wrote, but yea. Till then…lets see what happens for now.

One more thing, this is AU. If the character seems to be acting out of character from Kishimoto's little sharingan happy world there might just be a reason for it. Blame the AU and learn to love it:3

"A story starts with a single word, and with that word ends millions of possibilities and channels for a story to go. The second word cements the story as it cuts off billions more…"

--

Lukewarm water bathed the boy as the sky itself wept tepid tears upon his prone form. His chest shuddered before a fit of coughing racked the boy's thin frame; causing that much more blood to mix with the rain as it seeped into the heat-scorched earth below. Telltale signs of a powerful lightning jutsu; a jutsu that put the chidori to shame.

'_So it finally happened. Sasuke won…_' Naruto didn't want to admit it but the Uchiha bested him. Naruto decided to reason with the teme one last time and what did he get for his trouble? A giant bolt of lightning to the body, that's what. In a battle so anti-climactic Naruto would laugh if he didn't know it'd just aid in a swifter death. He wanted to enjoy what he reaped after all. He deserved this after believing in the teme even after he was so far gone.

"**Don't think you'll get off that easy kit.**" The deep voice of one Kyuubi no Kitsune rumbled from deep within its cage.

'_Is it really that hard to just let me die? What have I accomplished? How can I protect an entire village if I can't even protect my best friend?' _Naruto had no idea how he'd be able to get up from this. The burns were too bad and he couldn't feel a thing. If he looked in a mirror he was sure he'd find a mass of black, smelling to high hell and looking more like a pile of charred wood then anything. The Kyuubi was the only thing keeping him alive at this point, and even it couldn't heal the damage he'd sustained. It was too much for the allotted amount of chakra that could get through the seal at this point.

"**There's two of us in here and I'll be damned if this body gives out before the 50 years I was expecting from it. 19 is cutting it pretty damn short**" Kyuubi finished with a snort. Naruto took a moment to ponder if the snort was mental or not even though it was in his own head. After all the kyuubi talked so it wasn't as if his voice was a thought in his own head…right? Random delirious death induced tangent aside Naruto decided to respond. Nothing better to do before dying anyways…

'_Well life sucks and then you die. Get over it furball.'_ At this point Naruto blissfully accepted unconsciousness; unable to withstand the pain as a few of his receptors finally overcame the shock of being burned alive by a lighting bolt.

"**I always say live life to the fullest. That, and napalm doesn't kill children…I do."** Monologue over the Kyuubi did the only thing it could in this situation. He salvaged it.

--

The aroma of a bustling city: sake, ramen, smoke, entrées from hundreds of restaurants and stands, ramen, expired milk a few feet across the floor, a few flowers and ramen. Sounds of life: Children playing in the streets below, birds chirping, the wind blowing quickly by the window and an alarm…an alarm…Rough fleece…

'_Rough Fleece?'_ Bolting up, eyes bulging from their sockets the reality of his situation hit him. '_I'm alive…kuso kuso kuso Kuso Kuso KUSO! You fucking fox! Why couldn't you just let me die?' _He internally screamed to the demon within him only to find that nothing was answering back. '_Kyuubi?...stupid fox won't even talk to me…but how did I survive?' _As he swung his feet the inch from his futon to the floor and pushed up with his hands the true reality of his situation finally hit him.

Looking down the length of his shorter legs and feeling the difficulty he was having in even getting into a standing position it was pretty obvious to Naruto that he'd either become a midget, or he was much, much younger. Then again both would involve him being about the size of a midget.

'_Of course. The first time wasn't bad enough, was it fox?_' Acceptance came quickly though; after all, he decided to skip denial and the other steps since he didn't exactly have much choice in the matter. A quick glance at the calendar told him everything he needed to know; it was the day of the genin exams, and he had a good hour before he needed to be anywhere.

'_How'd that old saying go? "You can only live once?" Yea, that was it. I just had to be the most surprising enigma of a ninja with the biggest cockroach of a demon ever, didn't I? Fucker just doesn't know when to lie down and die…_' his pity party over for the time being, Naruto stood up -this time compensating for his lack of reach and balance- before heading to the closet to clothe himself as the social norms dictated of him.

As he searched through his jumpsuit littered closet he decided to do something different; after all, even if he didn't act like himself it wouldn't matter any. Everything would still play out the same as before. He was still the two-time failure, and he was still 14 before he even passed his genin exams. Everyone was 2 years younger then him, and Iruka was still the only person that acknowledged him besides the Hokage.

Life was great.

Grabbing the only t-shirt in his closet; he draped the black T with his favorite orange spiral across his head to rest upon his upper torso. A few minutes later found him in similar black workout pants with orange stripes along the sides. He didn't really care to emulate his past appearance. As he grew older he found himself wearing blacker, and less orange clothing; though he'd never quit wearing his favorite color. By this point it was as much a part of him as his dream of being hokage.

The trip was quick enough as Naruto strolled down the streets of Konoha. He ignored the glares; in the past 19 years they hadn't let up so he didn't expect them to now that he was young again. The birds were still chirping, and the smells of the town were still the same. For all that happened in his life it seemed the village would never change. Even after the invasion it took no more then a few months for the village to recover from what he heard. Naruto made it into the academy just fine and grabbed a seat beside Sasuke's seat a good 20 minutes before class started. No one seemed to be in the class just yet seeing how early it still was. Even Iruka sensei wasn't here. Looking out the window he noticed that the weather was different from when he graduated. He remembered quite well considering how many hours he spent in the forest with the forbidden scroll. It was still green out and fall hadn't hit yet, but as he looked outside the windows he could already see quite a few reds and yellows in the leaves.

'_Maybe it was just the area I was in that was green?_' He felt a little silly that he was spending time thinking about the weather, even if he had nothing better to do as he waited. A noise brought him out of his thoughts, another student he guessed. Probably Sakura since she always insisted on being on time.

"Hey Naruto." The female's voice was calm and aloof. She was greeting him while expecting nothing in return, and Naruto had to spend a few minutes looking at the back of her auburn covered head as the rest of the students filed into the room. One thought prominent in his mind.

'_This is the day I failed the genin exam for the second time…_'

--

A/N- Naruto failed the genin exam TWICE. That means he was 14 when everyone in his class (sasuke, sakura, hinata, etc) was 12. After the timeskip he's 17 when everyone is 15!! I kept that in mind so he's actually 13 right now. Just clearing that up. I'm also assuming there's more then just one class per year so Neji, Ten Ten and Lee aren't in his class. I do promise though, that everyone in the manga will be in this fanfiction, and they'll have their own important places in the storyline as well. After all, you can't just forget the only people you've ever grown close to.

A review to tell me if you like it would be appreciated. If you say you hate it, hell, that's your own opinion. If you give me critiques on my writing i'd like that as well, though keep in mind i'm looking at output right now and this'll be my first story. Hell, tell me how much you like pie. I just want to know besides the dumb clicker that says hits that people ACTUALLY read this and if anyone ACTUALLY enjoys it! If you do i'd love to know. Otherwise i'll be pretty lonely writing this story...XD


	2. Chapter 2: Teams

Disclaimer: Yadda yadda –don't own- blah blah…but I own the OC I make, so there.

--

Naruto's brain ran into overtime as memories of his past bludgeoned his mind in their rush to prominence.

'_Why am I here now? This is a year before Sakura and Sasuke! They're still in their third year of the academy! This means's I'm in Neji, Ten Ten and Lee's year. I've only failed once…not twice yet…If I pass today, which I can, will everything be different? What will happen without me in that year? What will my team be like? Who will be on my team?_' Naruto's thoughts were broken as Iruka started calling off the names for examinees in alphabetical order; starting at the end of the alphabet.

"Uzumaki Naruto, please come down for your examination." Naruto stood up, ignoring the jeers of a few of his crueler peers in this year as he walked the steps to the examination room as one would walk to an executioner's block. Mind in a daze he barely registered Iruka's voice as he addressed him.

"Please perform the Bunshin Uzumaki-san." If he were thinking straight he would've realized that Iruka was acting quite professional at this point, as he always did when in teacher mode. Sub-conscious clicking into this fact his hands lifted as an anamatron, hands in a seal that became second nature to the boy.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" At this point 2 clones joined the boy at his sides and as Iruka stared bug-eyed at him, mouth hanging open as the Hitai-ate in his hand fell to the floor. Working on instinct Naruto's ninja training kicked in as he grabbed it in hand –luckily calculating his own reach with his smaller arm- before lifting it to his face to look in his reflection upon the smooth metal. Konoha's symbol the only thing blemishing the metallic surface. At this point his mind kicked in as well. It's not like they trained ninja to overcome the full psychological shock of traveling back in time after all.

'_I passed, and in passing I changed the future._' In an act so ingrained into his mind as creating a kage bunshin Naruto realized that he was fully capable of changing events this time around, and for better or worse a few ideas were already formulating in the blonde's mind. Overcoming his shock at seeing such a jutsu performed by Naruto Iruka pointed out the obvious.

"That's yours Naruto-kun, congratulations on passing! We'll get ramen after class and I know how tempura miso is your favorite so we'll get a few extra servings of that." Walking up from behind the desk Iruka scratched his scalp, causing Naruto's blond locks to muss up as he shooed his instructor's hand away good-naturedly.

'_I missed Iruka-sensei…_' Naruto was loath to admit it, but he'd pushed aside Iruka for the most part and forgotten him in his training and obsession to return Sasuke to the village. As Iruka let go of his embrace and ended a hug Naruto hadn't even realized he was in he looked up at Iruka and made himself a silent promise.

'_Not this time Iruka-sensei, this time I'll treat you with the respect you deserved from me after treating me with the respect no one else offered for so long…_' Caught up in his thoughts as the rest of the class finished their exams Naruto barely caught the end of Iruka's speech.

"-of you all, and you should be proud of yourselves as well. You're finally Ninja and have completed the first of many steps in your ninja careers. With the numbers of female and male graduates ending up the way as they did this year it seems that we'll have a 3-man team of males. You'll receive your teams and meet your Jounin instructors tomorrow. Until then rest up and get a good breakfast. Dismissed."

The keyword announced, the class used any form of exit available to them to leave the academy…including the second story window to the chagrin of some as they later reflected their idiocy while staring at the white tiles of the hospital ceiling.

The rest of the evening was a blur. Iruka called Naruto to wait after class and Naruto enjoyed an evening of nostalgia, ramen and time with his first ever father figure. It was something the boy needed for a long time and only now that he enjoyed it did he truly realize how important such small things as this could be.

--

"Team 3: Nara Antarangu, Itemori Kyojiro and Inuzuka Mizumi. Your Jounin instructor is Taicho Youku." The class sloth, looker and anti-social girl thing as Naruto remembered them grouped up to wait for their instructor. None of the names caught his attention after that until they got to team 9.

"Team 9: Ishi Zaito, Hyuuga Taki and Uzumaki Naruto. Your Jounin instructor is Houkaji Takame. That's it for the graduating teams so just wait here for your Jounin instructors to pick you up; they should all be here shortly." Once done Iruka sat down and waited for the Jounin to take his pupils of his hands.

"Uzumaki, Ishi" Taki greeted, nodding her head to each in turn in what Naruto hoped wouldn't become her customary greeting. If she was anything like Neji when he first met him he could already feel the headache that would threaten to come.

"Hey headband, mornin' sunshine" Zaito greeted in respect to the headband tied across Taki's eyes and Naruto's sunshine blonde hair.

"Hey Zaito, hey Taki" Naruto returned just as jovially, scratching the back of his neck in anxiety as he realized how little he knew of the two even after a year in the same class as them. He reflected the more obvious points as he waited for his new sensei to come, a woman who's name he'd never even heard of until now.

Hyuuga Taki was hardcore despite her looks. That was the best word he could use to describe the tonfa-like elbow blade-wielding girl. She was the first weapon toting Hyuuga he'd ever met, but he remembered how well she could use them, even going so far as to use them like kunai for distance target practice. Appearance wise, she normally wore a headband of some type to cover her eyes in an attempt to increase her Byakugan's effectiveness. She had long, blue hair like Hinata, but none of the girl's shyness. In fact, she was almost a carbon copy of Hinata's appearance when he came back after Jiraiya's training now that he thought about it. Her lack of jacket, younger age and headband aside…Hyuuga Taki was a petite girl, and although she never brushed it, her long, dark blue hair always remained straight. She possessed the trademark, light lavender eyes that belonged to every member of her clan. Clad in normal ninja wear, a strapless purple top with a lighter purple design and purple colored fishnet sleeves starting below the deltoid, and stopping at her wrist. Her shoes were a deep purple as well, and she wore the same purple on her shorts with light purple detailing. Fishnet stockings could be found under those and her headband was tied before her eyes to complete her look. But, on the side of the pants, and the front of her slightly loose shirt, was the Hyuuga clan symbol in lilac. On her hip was a white/lilac belt with a dark pouch, which contained her weapons. Her stomach was exposed under the sternum to the waistline of her shorts. Currently, Taki was sitting in her seat, arms crossed and he imagined her eyes to be closed as well as she waited for their sensei to come. It seemed that she was done talking for now.

Ishi Zaito, or Zai –as he demanded on pain of death- was just, well, he was weird for a lack of a better term. Not weird like Shino weird, but weird in the fact that you just couldn't gauge the kid in any normal way. He could be calm and collected one moment, analyzing everything you said and giving a logical response, jumping off the walls in a way that Naruto would admit, truly put his own mask of energy to shame, giving a speech about his obsession of pie and then sleeping the next. There really wasn't a norm for him except his clothing. Taking a glance to his left Naruto watched as Zaito adjusted his wristbands as he pushed his chair back onto 2 "feet," getting comfortable for the wait on their sensei. His stocky –for a 12-year old- frame was devoid of muscle definition although his punch packed plenty of heat for a child his age. Against his mother's wishes, and to the amusement of his father the boy's turquoise shirt sported the kanji for "Sake" on the back in a bright orange. It practically screamed target, but he didn't mind since he was a close range fighter anyways. His eyes matched his clothing, which was odd with his black hair, a common color that was normally matched with brown or hazel eye coloring. His pants were the same turquoise, as were his ninja sandals, but all the bandages he wore on both legs and his right arm were orange. He sported two weapon pouches instead of one, the one on the right for kunai and shuriken, the one on the left for the overkill kunai and shuriken. His hitai-ate was tied across his shoulder in a similar manner to Shikamaru. Then again, his fashion wasn't very normal Naruto reflected as he watched the boy relax. Zaito seemed to put Naruto to shame in being outlandish without even trying, and he was just starting to remember how much that used to bug him.

'_I'm going to visit Ten Ten, Lee and Neji tomorrow. I remember their normal training ground so it shouldn't be hard._' Team Gai was in a different graduating class then him when he failed for the second time in his first lifetime. After all, he'd have already known the stoic Hyuuga, weapons mistress and…it already if they'd shared Iruka as a teacher. Of course, he'd have to become friends with all of them again even if Neji still acted like he had a stick up his ass…and kept talking about destiny…and would constantly put him down.

'_Why do I want to visit them again?_'

"Naruto. Naruto…NARUTO!" Takame yelled into the daydreaming boy's ear. Really, she wouldn't have shouted into his ear if he hadn't started mumbling about stick in asses and spandex. She was already starting to worry about the mental stability of her team as Zaito played tic tac toe on his own left forearm using a kunai.

"If we could all calm down and pay attention I'd appreciate it" she started, eyebrow twitching as Zaito now fingered a sake bottle on his hip, but was thankfully paying attention to her.

"We should to try get to know each other, so I'd like to hear about you. Say whatever you'd like, but it has to be more then 20 seconds worth of information, I'll begin. My name is Houkaji Takame, I'm recently made Jounin during the last exams and I'm a juggler taijutsu, water and wind ninjutsu specialist. I enjoy reading on my free time and my favorite food is mochi. I hope to make you a great team in the future and you'll become a combat team with the skills you posses. I dislike those that treat kunoichi as damsels in distress that always need protection and perverts." Finished with her introduction she turned towards Naruto, his zoned out look planted once again on his face.

"Naruto, how about you start us off?" A feeling of déjà vu coursing through him as he watched his teacher stare intently at him it was fairly easy to figure out what she wanted.

"Uzumaki Naruto's my name and I love ramen. Tempura miso is my favorite type of ramen because of the fried Tempura that you eat with it. I hate it if you wait more then a minute to eat it cause the tempura gets soggy and doesn't taste nearly as good. I also like instant ramen but I hate the three-minute wait. Even more, I hate the veggies in it, really, why am I eating them? If I wanted veggies I'd grab a salad. I also hate snobby bastards who want to kill their brothers and pedophilic snake men. I'm a ninjutsu specialist and I do brawler taijutsu if I had to name it. Ramen is my favorite food and I'm going to be Hokage some day!"

'_Is he serious? All I got from that is that he likes ramen and a reference to Orochimaru…though I have no idea how he could know about him._'

"Thank you Naruto, how about you Zaito, would you like to go next?" She asked expectantly to the boy who was currently staring at the Hyuuga next to him as though in a staring contest which made no sense since you couldn't see her eyes. Breaking his glaring or staring contest he slapped on a smile and started to rant off.

"Yo, name's Ishi Zaito, but if you know what's good for ya you'll just call me Zai. I love pumpkin pie with every fiber of my being, breaking onto an obsession with the food, and I hate the seasons that don't harvest pumpkins besides winter. I was born in winter so I can't really hate that season. I hate sake with a passion but thanks to my father's clan I'm a drunken master by birth, you could call it a bloodline of sorts but when I'm feeling daring and sadistic I tell my old man that's it's closer to a genetic line of alcoholics then anything else. Then I run for a good few hours to avoid the beating I know I'll get when I do finally have to go home. I love my mother because she's sane and loves me no matter how great or horrible I am. My little sisters bug the crap outta me and I'd kick them off a bridge for a pumpkin pie though I'll then save them before they hit the ground. After all, a good scare does anyone good. I'm very sadistic and crossing me grantees pain. Um…ramen's pretty damn good too." At this point Naruto jumped into the air, a "Yatta!" escaping his lips before he calmed down.

'_So this one's obsessed with pumpkin pie and has a twisted home life…that's…interesting._'

"Hyuuga Taki, will you do the honor of rounding us off?"

"Of course, Takame-sensei. You already know my name, my clan, my style of fighting, and if you look at my weapons you'll know I'm a kenjutsu user. I dislike orange," at which point both Naruto and Zaito slumped a little in their seats "and weaklings that can't help me train. I'm a main branch member and I'm planning on exceeding Neji as Hyuuga prodigy in the next two years. I don't like much and I really have nothing more to say."

'_Well I actually got more out of her then I did from the other two in her own way…_' Sighing she stood up, one last thought on mind.

"Well if that's all I think we can start on your genin test now. There's a two-thirds rate of failure and you'll be attempting my unique genin test."

--

A/N-There will be all the characters in the cannon so don't worry. It's more that Naruto has to find a way to meet them without seeming crazy, stalker-ish or any other extreme since they don't even know he exists at this point besides the fact that most of their parents don't want him near them. I reiterate that Naruto is 13 so he's in his second academy year, not his third that Sasuke, Sakura, etc was in so this is a year before cannon even starts that he was sent back to. Which means an extra year to grab more characters, enemies, plot twists and variables that will change pretty much everything that was cannon besides BIG events, and even then I may just twist them somehow. This is AU after all. I wrote a bigger chapter in hopes that I'll continue writing larger chapters from habit. I'm guessing it's pointless to ask for reviews since only one person did last time out of many more then one...meh. Hoped you enjoyed the chapter anyways.


	3. Chapter 3:Authors Note, Temp Chapter

A/U: I'm going to save national writing month for national writing month and do an art spree instead

I'm going to save national writing month for national writing month and do an art spree instead. No point in doing half a story, waiting 3 months and then continuing since most art I'll make is stand alone anyways. My deviantart is www.ryukaikaku. .

I share it with my toner and My current main pic is

Yondaime: Urban Punk XD

Btw, just curious for those of you that get this far if you like the idea i'm working with. It's pretty much just adding a bit of new blood, but Naruto will still join the chunin exams at the same time as team Gai, 7, 8, 10, etc. If i continue this train of thought then it'll go through the first year as a team in about 1 or 2 chapters so the main canon cast can get into the "scene." I don't like completely OC stories, but i DO want something different then the same damn bridge, same damn exams, same damn almost everything! I mean, IMAGINATION! When you're creative in a harry potter fanfic everyone loves it, but it seems a lot of naruto lovers only like it with very small changes...too bad. Just trying to broaden Naruto's experiences since there's no need to repeat his whole life just trying to change a few things. Nothing good comes from playing with the fates.

Either way i'm not going to continue posting the story unless some people tell me something...only one person has reviewed out of 80 views so farX

Well, good day,

Ja ne:3


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